Ukraine carried out a large-scale drone strike targeting logistics facilities and oil depots near Moscow, the Russian capital, and in central regions. Russian authorities said at least nine people were killed and about 60 injured in the attack. Ukraine said it was an operation aimed at the Russian military's logistics supply network.
On the 18th, local time, according to the Associated Press and others, Ukraine overnight attacked by drone the logistics centers of Wildberries, Russia's largest e-commerce company, in Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers east of Moscow, and in Kotovsk, Tambov region, about 360 kilometers from the border. At the Kotovsk logistics center, seven night-shift workers were killed and 25 injured, and there were dozens of casualties at the Elektrostal logistics center in Moscow region as well.
Tambov Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said, "In terms of the number of drones deployed and human losses, this attack is among the largest in the region's history," adding, "Had we not shot down 28 approaching drones, the damage would have been much greater." Moscow Governor Andrey Vorobyov also said 37 people were injured in the region, and one of them died during treatment. Drone debris fell on a kindergarten building, causing a fire, and a fire also broke out at an oil storage facility in Noginsk, prompting the nearby obstetrics and gynecology hospital to evacuate.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that two "major logistics facilities" in the Moscow and Tambov regions and one oil facility were struck. He said the logistics facilities have been used by Russia to procure sanctioned components needed for drone production and navigation equipment, and that the attack was a response to Russia's strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff also said it struck the Noginsk oil storage facility that supplies fuel to Russian forces, as well as 13 vessels including oil tankers and patrol ships that had been transporting military supplies in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and a military supply railway bridge in Russian-occupied Luhansk.
Russia also responded in kind. The Russian Ministry of National Defense said it carried out airstrikes on a container ship unloading ammunition and a bulk carrier transporting military cargo in the Odesa port area in southern Ukraine. The Odesa State Governments said one merchant seaman was killed, several were injured in the port attack, and fires also broke out on civilian ships.
The Russian Ministry of National Defense said it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones over the past 24 hours over mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula. As both sides expand long-range attacks targeting each other's military logistics facilities and energy infrastructure, the war is increasingly taking the shape of strikes aimed at rear supply lines.